The community of excited digital currency investors and those interested in this current rave have been buzzing about blockchain technology for quite some time now. Some pundits have even argued that this platform would remake the world economy from the ground up.

But, the question in the mind of those of us who have failed to follow the growth of this system is – what is blockchain technlogy? And if the system is supposed to be so powerful why isn’t it on the front page of every newspaper and at the forefront of the transition that we are seeing currently?

Simply put, blockchain technology can be defined as a digital ledger. This means that blockchain is indeed an official record keeper. The technology can be used to identify and verify transactions over a period of time in a way that is virtually unbreakable. The technology works by recording transactions that are known as blocks on multiple servers from around the world.

This recording of entries on servers from across the world creates a distributed record of transactions that are known as chains. These chains can hence be used to verify against one another to find out the authenticity of a transaction. One thing that defines blockchain is the enhanced security that it offers. The only way a hacker can tamper with a blockchain is by breaking into each and every server that contains a copy of the chain. This intrusion into each and every server needs to be done at one specific moment in time for it to be successful. This can be considered as a possible feat, but is extraordinarily difficult to execute for even the most professional hackers.

One for All

According to numerous experts from the field, blockchain’s potential in the world of electronic commerce is profound and exciting. The impact will be far flung and might not just be limited to cryptocurrencies. What we can see currently is that all financial and other records are kept on databases that offer only private access. If any outsider may want to access the files, he or she may have to pay for the access. Blockchain, on the contrary, is a peer to peer network which is not owned by anyone and is accessible to everyone. So, right from the onset it can help reduce the costs of handling business. It is also self-managing and gives users the ability to successfully manage their very own digital records, without worrying about the banks, the government and the credit card companies.

While you may know about its financial uses now, blockchain can be applied for far more things than just financial dealings. Any digital exchange that will need a version of past records can benefit from this technology. This means that blockchain will eventually end up benefiting healthcare, inventory management, legal affairs, and real estate filings as well.